La Zia Ferrarese

Emilia Romagna might be the unofficial capital of salumi in Italy. It’s the home of Prosciutto and culatello. The variety of cured meats from this region alone is endless!

Part of what I like about this hobby is the research and study of all the different salumi, finding one that is little known and making it. My latest finding is the Zia Ferrarese. I’m not sure where the name comes from or why it’s “the aunt from Ferrara”, but the fact that it’s a salame that is little know even in Italy, and one that books claim is very challenging to make because of what it’s cased in, meant I had to go for it!

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For those who care....sneak peeks

Just a heads up...for a couple months I've been using Twitter to post quick updates on what I'm making. I have to admit I post a lot more on Twitter (still not much...probably less than 2 tweets a week) than on here. It's much easier and quicker...but it's only a picture of what I've made/eaten.

If you want what might be called a "sneak peek" of what's to come on the blog when I get time, follow me on Twitter as @Cured_meats. https://twitter.com/#!/cured_meats

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Culatello – Tasting Notes

It was a long journey, but the culatello is finally ready. Actually, it was ready about 4 months ago. We cut into it to celebrate the birth of my son as it just happened to have lost enough weight by then and felt hard enough to go for it. It lost a total of about 40% weight in about 7 or 8 months in the curing chamber. I guess I was so excited to taste it that I forgot to take a picture of the whole thing before cutting it!

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Capocollo di Calabria

In the southern part of Italy what’s “coppa” in the north is called “capocollo”. That’s where the American term “capicola” or “gabagool” comes from. Most of the Italian immigrants to the US were from Southern Italy, bringing with them the term and product “capocollo”
I’ve already gone through the whole coppa making process in a previous post, but this one is slightly different. My buddy Scott at Sausage Debauchery, who’s family is original from Calabria, is a Calabrian FREAK. He’s so obsessed with the place that he opened a store to source and resell Calabrian chili pepper and other goodies. All I hear from him is how Calabrian cured meats are the best, tastiest, blah blah blah. Mostly in an effort to shut him up, I made a capocollo following the Calabrian DOP production methodology.

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Prosciutto Cotto / Spalla Cotta

Prosciutto cotto is just an Italian cooked ham. Not really all that different from good American cooked hams, except maybe for the spicing. Technically, what I made here wasn’t a prosciutto cotto, as I didn’t use a prosciutto, I used a “spalla” or shoulder. No matter, this same method applies to both. I used a shoulder because that’s what was available at the market, and because a whole cooked deboned ham would have been a little unwieldy.

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Salam D’La Duja - Tasting

The Salam D’la Duja has been ready for a little while now, but I haven’t had a chance to post about it. The one pictured here on the left is about 10 months old. I tried some at 4 months and the flavor is pretty similar. This one might be a little more intense.

 

 

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Boccia al Finocchio – Tasting

The boccia al finocchio has been ready for a while, but I’m just not getting around to writing about it.
I apparently forgot to take notes on timing so I can’t say how long it stayed in the curing chamber, nor how much loss there was when I took it out! I’m assuming it was 2 or so months and about 35% loss.
Either way, I’ve been enjoying it quite a lot!
It’s got GREAT flavor, but the fennel is not strong enough, in fact, I can barely taste it. It could easily use twice as much next time.

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